Kaiserslautern's Jean Zimmer: "Bundesliga with FCK? That's my dream!"

Kaiserslautern's Jean Zimmer is earning plaudits by the bucket-full the season. That's helped him earn a Germany under-21 call up and a new contract at FCK, here's what he had to say to kicker in a recent interview.

Jean Zimmer on; his under 21 experience: "It is a tremendous honour for me to wear the eagle on the chest. It was in some ways surprising, because otherwise I don't normally play for the youth national side, only the south west team. Also because I haven't played that many games (for the youth sides). It was a great experience and I hope to be selected for even more games."

Zimmer on; being part of the squad for this summer's U-21 European Championship: "There have been currently no announcements by the DFB. In March, there is another training camp with games against England and Italy. I hope that I can be there. Otherwise, the message was that we should simply look towards the winter break, make sure that we don't get injured and put in a decent pre-season."

Zimmer on; Kosta Runjaic: "He is massive, he helped shape the upheaval. He gives us the chance to talk a lot with each other. Otherwise, each of us has our own discipline and we must give everything in every game. Therefore he doesn't have to say as much as he would have to, but he still does. He does it well."

Zimmer on; the difference between Regionalliga and 2.Bundesliga: "The pace is the biggest difference. You have to have everything in mind as a right-back, but you also have to see what happens on the left and move accordingly. If you don't do that in the 2.Bundesliga, it is punished heavier than in the Regionalliga. And of course the individual class of opponents is higher."

Zimmer on; his contract extension and his goals with Kaiserslautern: "It was the next logical step in my career. I think I have shown at the end of last season and now this one, that my decent performances on a regular basis have earned it. I think that this is a dream for a guy like me. I grew up 20 kilometres from here in Landstuhl. I grew up with FCK and I even used to stand in the stands."

"This is the desire for all of us, that we, if not this season, try next season or the season after that, to get promoted again. Then we'll have even more fans in the stadium, where we already have above average attendances in the 2.Liga, both home and away. My goal is to reach the Bundesliga, naturally with FCK."